Because of my love for musical scores, I've decided to point out some of my favorite musical moments.  As with all of my lists, this is hardly exhaustive.  It just provides a few solid examples.  For the sake of cohesiveness, I'm narrowing it down the "dramatic build-ups."  These are songs that start slow and soft, causing a slow burn towards a dramatic climax where the beat is pounding and the characters of the film push towards their goal.  In case you can't figure it out, I've linked all songs in their respective titles.  And here we go....

I've heard a few who try to say this song doesn't quite fit due to its heavy use of electric guitar.  These people are mistaken.  In a beautiful homage to Sergio Leone style westerns, the stand off before the final battle of At World's End is one of the best scenes in the movie.  The music is a perfect blend of the Pirates music and those old fashioned, over the top spaghetti western tunes.  Let me make it clearer: this song makes the scene, providing the perfect tone for a dramatic meeting.

It's funny.  This soundtrack is one of the few physical CDs I actually own (I believe I bought it for $5 at a Sam Goody).  This is also one of the first musical moments I can remember truly grabbing my attention.  Whether it was because Mercutio is such a lovable character or because I simply found the piece to be so riveting at the age of 10 is beyond me.  What I do know is even now, I find this song to be a little haunting.  Maybe it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the songs on this list, but it definitely builds and it definitely has a certain epic quality to it.

There is a reason Marco Beltrami received an Oscar nomination for the 3:10 to Yuma score. The soundtrack is freaking awesome (much like the movie itself).  Westerns often bring a certain expected sound with them.  In the case of 3:10 to Yuma, Beltrami somehow manages to meet the expectations of the western genre while giving our ears something unique and powerful to listen to.  This is best exemplified in Bible Study.  The scene it accompanies is down right inspiring and the song itself provides a perfect example of letting it all go musically.  If you watch the DVD features of this movie, they give special mention of this song.  This song deserves special mention.

I am not exaggerating when I say about half of my love for the movie Sunshine comes from this song.  I still remember the first time I was watching the movie, and it reached the scene where this song is played.  The music suddenly breaks the silence and I was completely spellbound.  The imagery, the music, the character's emotion.   All of it came together perfectly in such an amazing way.  This is one of my favorite movie songs of all time and if you give it a listen, I hope you will understand why. (there is also a different version of the song played later)

The Da Vince Code was not a good movie.  Let's just get that out of the way.  And yet somehow, as I sat in the theatre, this song almost saved it for me.  What can I say?  I am a sucker for stringed instruments and if there are two things Hans Zimmer does well, its use strings and build to dramatic climaxes in his songs.  In fact, this song was so solid it served as the thematic basis for the Angels and Demons score.  Clearly I'm not the only one who enjoyed it.

Okay, so I'm cheating with this last one a little bit.  Technically, this is from a video game and not a movie, but the song and scene that it goes with are so great, I couldn't just leave it out.  Imagine you just played a game for 20 hours and at the very end, you believe your character to be dead.  Then, right as you accept the hero's fate, he emerges from the ashes, victorious as the music blares from your speakers.  Pretty great, right?  No?  I'm just a nerd, aren't I?

So, there are a few samples for you.  Maybe you have thought of some yourself.  You can feel free to list them below in the comments section.  Look for more musical suggestions in the future!